


Born in Darkness

by Midnight Wolf (Larkawolfgirl)



Series: Ideas for Adoption [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Darkness, F/M, Family, Parent search, Work Up For Adoption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 23:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4039402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larkawolfgirl/pseuds/Midnight%20Wolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if there was a reason for Riku's lure toward the Darkness? What if he was actually born in the Realm of Darkness but from pure Light? Both Darkness and Light battle within him as he searches for the parents he's never known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Up for adoption. If you take this on, I will love you! I have always loved the idea of Dark Riku for some reason, as well as have a head canon about Aqua being a Princess of Heart (thus why she is still pure after spending so long in the Realm of Darkness). I would love to write this myself, but I can't seem to come up with a real plot. The plot points I did come up with were the following:  
> Aqua was pregnant with Terra's child (Riku) before entering the Realm of Darkness. She gives birth there, but set on giving him the Light, she sends him in a basket down the ocean which takes him to Destiny Islands. He doesn't know that he's adopted, but he feels drawn to other worlds. When Kairi shows up he keeps asking her about her old world, even though she doesn't remember. His parents finally tell him that he is adopted and from another world, and so, after learning this he sets out to find his parents.
> 
> Any additional pairings, or none, are welcome. All I want is a Darkness/Light struggle and a possibly cute family reunion.

It felt like she had known Terra her whole life. While it was true that there was a time before she knew him, she couldn’t remember it. If she was the ocean then he was the land that she lapped at, but the tide always pulled them apart. LAND WATER METAPHOR.

Aqua could feel the warmth in her belly. A warmth radiating with life and light. A smile touched her features as she focused on this tiny bit of life growing within her; a life born from her and Terra. Terra. If only he were here to share in her happiness. But he wasn’t. He was lost to her as if a mist were shielding her view; his silhouette was clear enough, but whenever she moved closer he disappeared before she could reach him. His form shifted in multiple directions, leaving to any distant land which she could only hope to follow him to. Even then he was out of her reach. Why? Why had the darkness so clouded his self of purpose? How had it taken him away from her so fully, and so quickly as to have happened as if overnight?

Perhaps she had merely missed the obvious signs. He had grown more distant, she had just refused to realize it. His face, though smiling, had been shrouded in hidden uncertainty.

“Terra!” she called stretching her arm out to him, willing her limb to extend in order to reach the unreachable. But he didn’t stop, didn’t listen. Tears trickled down her face as her arm was slowly brought down by gravity’s force. Rubbing her belly, she wept for her uselessness. If only she could save him, bring him home safe. Home. They could truly have a home, him, her and their child. They could have a home that neither had ever truly had. One with stability and happy parents for their child. But now as his form retreated further from her sight, the idea of a happy home drifted away with the passing wind. And as the cool air suddenly filled her with a chill, she knew that this had been her final chance to save him. He was now lost to her. Wasn’t the land supposed to remain constant? To stay within the ocean’s reach? Yet, her land had left her waters for good.

TALKING WITH ANSEM

Suddenly she keeled over clutching her stomach in agony. “I can’t bring him into a world like this! No, no,” she cried tears overflowing down her cheeks. “Darkness will be all that he knows.” She couldn’t believe that she had not realized the gravity of what she had done until now. All she had focused on at the time was saving Terra, and in so doing, now both would be lost to the Darkness.

Her companion approached her slowly, gently placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself. I am not know how you got here, but I can tell that it is no place for you, or your child.”

“But how-“ she squeaked in shock.

“The way you touch your stomach is a dead ringer.” He laughed briefly before his face fell back into a solemn expression. “Perhaps there is a way to give him the Light…but you may not like it.”

“Anything! He must feel the Light!” Her voice held such desperation that he was taken aback.

“He must be born here, there is no way around that. However, afterward, we can float him down this ocean,” he gestured to the gleaming moonlit waves,   
“in a basket. There are no guarantees, but perhaps it will lead him into the Light.” He expected her to refuse; it was so dangerous, so unpredictable, but instead, after gulping, she simply nodded while making loving circles onto her belly.

“Anything,” she said.

This was the moment, the final moment. She started down at the tiny infant in her arms. He looked so small, so helpless. Her instincts screamed at her to hold him tightly to her and never let go, yet her mind knew beyond a doubt that this place would ruin him. While she still felt nearly untouched by the enclosing darkness, a helpless child would be compelled by its many whispers. The ocean waves sounded peacefully, but they held a sense of caution. Too easily could the waves build and topple the tiny basket. But it was a risk she must take.

She nestled the baby boy into the basket taking extra care that he was lying comfortably. He giggled as she stroked the small scrap of silver upon his head. She felt conflicted in this moment. It felt wrong not to give him a name, yet she knew full well that whatever name she chose would be hers alone; whatever family took him in would give him a new one.

“Sekai, ” she whispered as the tears began. “Be safe my child. By the Light I hope that we may meet again.” She pushed the basket into the water and watched with a silent prayer as it disappeared into the waiting darkness.


	2. Chapter 1

“Come on, Sora. You’ll have to run faster than that to catch up to me.” He laughed watching the boy stumbling over his own feet in his haste.

“Riku, wait up!” he called. Seeing the boy’s doleful face, Riku decided to take pity on him. It still took Sora a few minutes to catch up to his new walking speed.

“You’re gonna have to shape up if we are ever gonna leave this place.”

“I know.” The brunet lowered his head in shame before lifting it in curiosity. “But Riku, why are you so sure that there are other worlds?”

Riku clutched his chest. “I just know there are. It’s like there’s this feeling buried within me telling me that I belong somewhere else, that there is _somewhere_ else.”

“Wow, Riku, you sound so grown up,” Sora giggled lifting his young head. Riku wondered at that. Yet another thing to add to his list of reasons why he didn’t belong here, along with his feeling, his ingrained philosophical nature, his need for mobility and longing for excitement.

The boy’s head cocked in wonder. “But we’re the same age.”

Riku laughed. “Don’t worry, Sora. Give it time. I’m sure you will be as cool as me one day.”

Sora smacked him in the forearm. “That’s mean.”

Riku’s laughter cut off when he heard a loud splash. He scanned the horizon and noticed a mound of something near shore. Without a second thought, he took off running to investigate.

“Riku? Where are you going?” asked the brunet following after him.

“I think there’s something down there,” he called over his shoulder.

When they came upon the shore they could clearly make out the figure of a young girl. Her short red hair was sprawled so that it obstructed any view of her face which was in the water. She wore a blue dress soaked through with ocean water.

While Riku stared in shock, the ever-helpful Sora quickly rolled her over and dragged her to dry sand.

“Riku, she’s not breathing! What do we do?” His childlike eyes grew watery.

This snapped Riku out of his daze. Pushing Sora out of the way he pressed two fingers to her wrist. Sure enough, a pulse was there, slow but present. Assured that she was still alive, he placed his hands one on top of the other and began to push.

Sora stood by watching in amazement until the young girl spat out an abundant quantity of water. She blinked her eyes open which took them in with wonder.

“Who,” she coughed a few times, “who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Sora,” he said beaming his trademark, friendly smile.

“And I’m Riku,” he said smiling but for a different reason. While he could guess that Sora was happy at this opportunity to make a new friend, he was happy because she was proof that there was more out there. “What about you? Where are you from?”

Sora let out a giggle, no doubt finding it funny that Riku was the one excitedly inquiring about their new acquaintance before he had the chance.

The girl ignored the laughter, instead scrunching her face up in concentration as if the question had been an advanced algebra equation instead of a simple introduction. “Kairi. I think my name is Kairi.”

“You think?” Riku asked confused.

“I can’t seem to remember anything else.”

Sora turned to him. “Do you think she has amnesia?”

While this seemed to discredit Riku’s theory, her displacement only reinforced his beliefs. She couldn’t be from here, he’d recognize her if she was. Their islands were small in population, a mere rounded100 in number. But he needed to know for sure.

“Why don’t we see if we can find your family or someone who knows them, huh?” Riku extended his hand. The girl gladly took it, and he swiftly pulled her up to a standing position.

 

They searched house after house until the sun began to set on the horizon without any success just as he had anticipated. The boys sat upon a hill staring out at the sunset while Kairi stared wonderingly at a patch of blue ginger flowering at the foot of said hill.

“You don’t think that she’s-”

“From another world? Totally.” He smiled, falling into a laying position so that he could star at the darkening sky. Deep blues were circling pale oranges. “If not how did she get here? It’s not like she came in a boat.”

“But-“ Sora bit his lip. “That still doesn’t explain how she got here though. Wouldn’t she have had to come in _something_?”

“Magic.”

“Magic?” The brunet started down at him.

“Magic,” Riku mumbled closing his eyes.

Giving up on his friend elaborating, Sora sat in silence until the sun had fully disappeared from sight and Kairi’s outcry of protest to the lack of light could be heard. “We should probably head home.”

“Yeah.” Riku got up stretching his semi-stiff limbs.

“Um,” Sora nudged his best friend’s shoulder, “what about her?”

“Oh…” Riku hadn’t thought about that. Actually he hadn’t thought much about her herself much at all. He had been entirely focused on proving his own fantasies to realize that she was a _real_ person who needed a _real_ place to live. “I’ll, uh, take her to my house. At least for tonight.” At the look his friend gave him, he added, “Don’t worry about it. Sure my mom will understand. You can go ahead.”

“Bye, Kairi. I need to get home. Hope to see you again soon!” He called waving enthusiastically while walking backwards.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” Riku chided, but when he did in fact stumble causing Kairi to giggle, he let out a chuckle as well.

“We should go too.”

“Go where?” she asked.

“To my place. You’re gonna be staying there for a while.”

 

“Why, who’s this,” Riku’s mother asked when they walked in.

“Her name’s Kairi. Can she stay here for a few days?”

She wiped some excess flour off of her hands on her apron. “Stay here? Why?”

“Well, she kind of has amnesia.”

“Amnesia? What about her parents?”

“We couldn’t find anyone who knows her.”

She abandoned her sheet of cookie dough to sit in the nearest chair. “Dear, I think you better get in here!”

A minute later Riku’s father joined them looking from one anxious face to the next, lingering on the one he didn’t recognize. “I see we have company.”

When it became apparent that the girl was not about to introduce herself, Riku stepped in. “Dad, this is Kairi. She needs to stay here for a few days.”

Unlike his mother, his father seemed more pleased by the idea. “Well, I don’t see why not.”

Riku blinked in surprise. “What? You are agreeing just like that?”

“Why? Is there a reason why I should refuse?”

“No, it’s just you haven’t even asked why.”

His father smiled cheerfully. “I know you wouldn’t asked without a reason. Now why don’t you show her to the spare bedroom.”

As Riku obediently led her away, he could hear his mother’s muffled voice.

“Dear, we need to talk.”

When they entered the spare room Kairi sat upon the bed and started at him expectantly. He had planned on just heading to bed, but he was pretty curious.

“So, Kairi do you remember anything at all?”

She squished her eyes in contemplation again. “I remember the blue sky. It was calming and there was a breeze. Not a sea breeze like here that smells like fish, but one that’s airy with many different smells mixed together.”

 

\----------

“Mom, Dad, I think that Kairi is from another world.”

“Dear,” his mother said taking hold of his hand. “We have something to tell you.” She glanced at his father who nodded in support. “We aren’t your real parents.”

“What? Why-”

“We found you in a basket in the ocean. We have no idea where you came from.”

Riku sat heavily into the nearest chair. _He_ had appeared as unexpectedly as Kairi. Could that possibly mean that he too was from another world? Could this be why he felt so compelled to travel beyond the only world he knew?

“Do you think that I could be…”

“I don’t know,” his mother said with thought. “I guess anything is possible.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all I got.


End file.
